Farewell Manuel and Nitsa as Fannie Bay supermarket changes hands

The beloved owners of a suburban Darwin supermarket have said farewell to customers as a new phase begins for the business. Read which one.

Fannie Bay Supermarket Manuel and Nitsa Kotis

After almost 40 years, Fannie Bay supermarket owner-operators, Manuel and Nitsa Kotis, are headed towards a long-overdue retirement.

New owners from Western Australia have taken over the business the couple built-up over four decades and at the end of this month after a transition phase, the Kotis’ intend to head to Europe for a break and to attend a liquor conference in Prague.

The move has been talked about since earlier this year and the rubber hit the road last week with a street party on Thursday afternoon in front of the shop attended by hundreds of past and present customers.

Manuel and Nitsa will be back in Darwin from October as they adjust to a life that’s not structured around the seven-day-a-week pulses and rhythms of a local supermarket.

“As of today, I’m officially unemployed,” Manuel said.

It’s last days at Fannie Bay Supermarket Manuel and Nitsa Kotis

Aged 76, is he worried by that?

“Well yes I am, because I’m starting to get bored already.”

Manuel’s good-humour has been a mainstay for customers in the shop for decades, but he admits he’s only half-joking about being bored.

He has been in Darwin since his parents emigrated from Greece when he was five.

Before he and Nitsa bought Fannie Bay supermarket in 1986, he had managed the Ampol service station on Bagot Road,was Bridge Toyota’s service manager in Jabiru and owned and operated Wanguri supermarket.

The certainty and reliability of the business compensated for the enormous workloads, long hours and attention to detail that goes with managing a popular neighbourhood supermarket with about 10 employees.

Crowds at Fannie Bay Supermarket for the farewell of Manuel and Nitsa Kotis.

“The work is seven days a week,” Manuel said.

“I come in at about 6.30 or 7am and I go home at 8pm. You have to do a lot of ordering and checking the stock, making sure everything’s in code and that the veggies coming in are fresh, that the meat’s right.

“It’s a lot of work and there’s never a dull moment. It’s kept me fit I suppose and I’ve been thinking about it, and it’s going to be hard to adjust.

“You work for almost 40 years, seven-days a week, then you go to zero and are not working, it’s a big transition.

“I’ll have to find something to occupy my mind and body. Although I’m 76 I still feel very fit and very energetic. I’ll need something outside that I can still do. I’m worried that I might get bored, and when you get bored you get sick.”

Nitsa, he said, was also looking forward to travelling and retirement and a break from the shop.

“Nitsa’s been the backbone of the business, and she’s very happy about the future,” he said. “She’s worked hard making the creamed rice every day, the cakes and the fresh food. The food recipes were all hers, and the new owners have all the recipes. It’s up to them what they do with it now.”